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Brisbane-born tennis player Priscilla Hon spends at least eight months of the year travelling from tournament to tournament.
She's at the tail end of a tournament in Germany and is preparing for another in the Czech Republic. To fuel herself before training and matches, she mostly eats carbs.
“Obviously rice, because I'm Asian," Hon says of her Hong Kong heritage. "I love my rice and noodles, and pasta. I love carbs, but who doesn't?"
Thai and Italian cuisines are her go-to. "The night before a match, I might have pad see ew, or pasta, but not a creamy one. In Italy, I was having amatriciana or spaghetti vongole, lighter pasta. And I love truffles, so I'll have truffle pasta if it's on the menu," she says.
Then, before a match, she'll have a bowl of rice. "Sometimes you can get it with other stuff, but [at] a lot of these tournaments, the food is very basic, and I just have to put olive oil or salt [on it]. But in Japan, that's a different story. And if I can get fried rice, it's ideal."
Hon says tournaments in Japan and Italy have the best catering. For tournaments where the food is average, she comes prepared. She travels with furikake and Japanese chilli oil, which is easier to transport than the jar of garlic chilli sauce she enjoys while in Australia. Salt (often flavoured with truffles) is also a must in her seasoning arsenal.
While Hon focuses on her game on court, exploring the food scene of the countries she tours helps her find balance off-court.
"I can switch off and get excited about something else and not just training every day. I always look for good restaurants in the city I am in, which is the highlight of the day."
Without this, tournament season would be dull.
"It would be quite depressing just living in these hotel rooms going to the tennis and then the hotel room again. That's kind of my way of seeing the city," she explains.
I can switch off and get excited about something else.
On her second Instagram account, , she shares pictures of the meals during her travels, and is often asked by fellow players for her restaurant recommendations. "It's kind of a good reputation to have," she laughs.
One of her most memorable meals was in Florence a couple of years ago during a break between tournaments.
"I was hungry and there were these four dogs on this bike ride outside a pasta restaurant, and I thought they looked cute."
The restaurant wasn't very busy, but she didn't think much of it and went in.
"They made pasta in a big cheese wheel, and they had truffles as well. They put fire into it and then they shaved a lot of truffle on top. I've had pasta like this before, but it never tasted as good. It was amazing." she recalls.
